Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Bren 805: A Rifle for the Post-Communist Czech Army

February 7, 2022 Ian McCollum 35

With the Velvet Revolution and the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia, a new Czech Republic immediately looked to NATO membership. This would require rearming the Czech Army with a rifle in 5.56mm NATO. After some […]

Alien vs Spinner: Round 2 (Now With Less Fail!)

February 5, 2022 Ian McCollum 11

Time for another practice session on the spinner…I am improving! This time, I stopped trying to make double taps, and focused instead on getting a single properly timed hit at each presentation. Hitting twice is […]

Le Redoutable: A Double-Barrel 20-Shot Revolver

February 3, 2022 Ian McCollum 40

“Manufrance” was the common abbreviated name for Manufacture d’Armes et Cycles de Saint Etienne, a massive mail-order catalog company in France for many decades. Like Sears Roebuck in the United States, one could get pretty […]

Amsterdam Police Carbine: 8mm Mauser for the Carbine/SMG Squad

February 2, 2022 Ian McCollum 27

In the wake of World War Two, much of Europe was awash in small arms – but there were still organizations looking to purchase new arms rather than use the available surplus. The Gemeentepolitie Amsterdam […]

The Short-Lived Suomi SMG for Armored Vehicle Mounts

January 31, 2022 Ian McCollum 14

Prior to the Winter War, Finland had just a few armored vehicles; mostly armored cars. These needed some armament, and one idea put forth was to fit an m/31 Suomi to a ball mount inside […]

What is UTREON? The Best Place to Watch Forgotten Weapons…

January 30, 2022 Ian McCollum 24

Utreon is a growing video platform that combines the functions of both YouTube and Patreon, without the problems of either one. I have no plans to stop using either of those, but I think Utreon […]

2-Gun: An Old-School “Ring Sight” Optic

January 29, 2022 Ian McCollum 8

This month at the 2G-ACM match, I thought it would be interesting to try out a “Ring Sight”. This is the same style of optics used on the FN P90 – the manufacturer marketed it […]

LPC16: An AR With a Huge Helium-Neon Laser Built In

January 28, 2022 Ian McCollum 16

Laser Products Corporation got its start in 1979, with a laser sight mounted atop a Colt Trooper .357 Magnum revolver. Shortly thereafter they introduced a range of other small arms with lasers fitted, including the […]

SHOT Show 2022 Q&A: H&K’s Your Huckleberry!

January 26, 2022 Ian McCollum 26

I decided to try a bit of an experiment for this month’s Q&A, and took questions from Forgotten Weapons Patreon and Utreon supporters to ask directly to exhibitors at SHOT Show 2022. It turned out […]

L119A2: The New British SOF Rifle

January 24, 2022 Ian McCollum 51

Around 2013, the UK MoD began looking for a new rifle to replace the Special Forces’ L119A1. Those A1 rifles were getting old, and something new was needed – and there was some thought that […]